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Cláudio Calasans Camargo Junior

Brazilian black belt in judo and jiu-jitsu, from São José dos Campos. IBJJF middleweight and ADCC absolute world titles in 2015; judo veterans gold in 2025.

Last updated: 7 October 2026

Biography

Cláudio Calasans Camargo Junior is a Brazilian black belt in both judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, competing for Atos Jiu-Jitsu and for the family gym in São José dos Campos, Calasans Camargo. A match database gives his date of birth as 11 October 1983; the year is the one two separate age statements point to, since he was 36 in April 2020 and 42 in November 2025. Judo came first, and it came through his father, who was a judo black belt and a master then and is a seventh dan now, by his son's account. He started at three, competed for the first time at five, and spent childhood weekends on buses — one tournament on the Saturday, another on the Sunday. He and his brothers grew up on the mats, and all of them hold black belts in judo and in jiu-jitsu. Jiu-jitsu was added at around fifteen or sixteen, and not as a change of sport: submissions become legal in judo from that age, so the ground was where he needed to improve. His father settled it. In 1992 the elder Calasans travelled to the Barcelona Olympics with the coaching staff, and came home convinced that jiu-jitsu was about to become something much larger. Getting to black belt was largely a logistics problem. There were no black belts in their town, so his father found an instructor in São Paulo, roughly a hundred kilometres away, who came to the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The teacher he ended up training under was Erivaldo Junior, a purple belt himself at the time, who stayed exactly one grade ahead the whole way up — when the student made blue, the teacher was purple, and so on to the end. Training happened on mats in the teacher's family home, and Calasans cycled there and back, half an hour each way, until somewhere around 2009. He says he got the black belt from Erivaldo Junior in 2005 — he gives 2005 three times in the same interview, in three separate answers — and that he trained under him until 2008. Until 2009 he was still splitting himself between the two sports. Then he chose jiu-jitsu and went looking for a team training at the level he wanted, which was Atos. The first year at black belt brought third place at the World Championship and a win at a tournament he remembers as a world cup, against more or less the same field. The one he wanted did not come: he reached the World final in 2010, in 2012 and in 2013, and finished second each time. His own diagnosis is the interesting part. He had been competing since he was five, and somewhere along the way the adrenaline had gone. Most competitors, he says, are wound too tight before a match; his problem ran the other way. He would begin as though he were in his own gym, find his rhythm only once the match was under way, and discover he had left himself too little time to turn the score around. The coaching work he did after 2013 was aimed squarely at that. It paid off in 2015, in a way two publications nine years apart both record: the IBJJF world title at middleweight — his first — and the ADCC absolute title in the same year. The ADCC final, in São Paulo against Joao Gabriel Rocha, produced nothing on the scoreboard in either regulation or overtime; Calasans was given the decision because his opponent had one more stalling penalty than he did. He had reached it past Gabriel Lucas on points, then Vinny Magalhaes the same way, and then Yuri Simoes in the semi-final on a referee's decision. Then he went quiet, and a reporter asked him about it the following April. He had skipped the Europeans after two months in Europe teaching seminars and camps, with no tournament in mind while he did it, and skipped the Pan because the dates sat awkwardly against the World Pro: living in Brazil, he did not want the Brazil-United States-Brazil-Abu Dhabi routing. He was planning a return by way of the World Pro, the IBJJF Worlds and the Copa Podio middleweight grand prix — a plan as of April 2016, not a result. The database record, a recorded selection rather than a complete career ledger, holds 184 matches: 122 wins, 59 losses and 3 draws. Thirty per cent of the wins came by submission, against a site-wide average of forty, with the armbar his most frequent finish at seven. Against Victor Estima the file has seven meetings and a 5-2 lead in his favour, while against Leandro Lo and against Otavio Sousa he has no win in six recorded matches each, and none in five against Isaque Bahiense. His heaviest year on record was 2011, with 23 matches — the season he won the Pan, the Abu Dhabi Pro, the European Open and ADCC's Brazilian trials. Two finishes in the file show where he learned to grapple: a wristlock on Manuel Ribamar Filho at the 2017 European Championship, and a kneebar on Romulo Barral at the 2016 Abu Dhabi World Professional Championship. By 2020 he was 36 and saying plainly that injuries no longer cleared up in a week or two, that he had to be selective about what he entered, and that it was time to think about a next step. He was coaching by then, and keeps competition training and ordinary training apart at his gym. Anyone who wants to compete at a high level, he says, has to arrive prepared in four ways at once — physical, technical, emotional, tactical — and has to train each of the four on its own. The next step turned out to be the sport he had started in. In November 2025, sixteen years after he had last competed in judo, he entered the veterans' world championships and took gold in the 40-44 age group at under 81 kg, aged 42. Two magazines reported that this made him the first person to have won world titles in the IBJJF Worlds, in ADCC and in judo. He set out the week himself in a post translated by one of them: six fights, two of them against Georgians and one each against opponents from Switzerland, Azerbaijan, France and Brazil — five countries, where two reports say six. One of the two says it in a heading counting six fights, six countries and six wins, and then lists the same five countries in the article underneath it. As a boy he had watched Aurélio Miguel and Rogério Sampaio win Olympic judo gold for Brazil and told himself he would be a champion like them; the international judo career never happened, and other doors opened instead. What made him enter at 42 was a friend's argument that health is not a standing offer, and that in a year the chance might be gone. In jiu-jitsu, he noted, people called him a judoka, and in judo they called him a jiu-jiteiro. The event itself can be pinned down: the International Judo Federation's own calendar lists the Paris World Championships Veterans 2025, held in Paris from 3 to 7 November with 2,316 competitors from 64 nations, and it has the M3 category at under 81 kg on the programme for day two. That fixes which championship the reports mean, and nothing more. His name does not appear on the federation page at all; the result itself still rests on three news outlets and on his own account.

Sources for this profile

BJJ Eastern Europe (bjjee.com), "Controlling Your Emotions During Competition with World & ADCC Champ Claudio Calasans", intervju, publisert 2020-04-07.(opens in a new tab)
- He says himself that he took up judo at the age of three, and that the reason was his father, then a black belt and a Master, and since graded to 7th dan.
  Where in the source: I started when I was three years old, and it was especially because of my father. He was a black belt and a Master at that time, and now he’s a 7th degree black belt.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He and his brothers were raised on the mat, and all of them today hold black belts in both Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo.
  Where in the source: So, my brothers and I have been training since we were kids. We were basically born on the mat… Today, all of us, my brothers and I, are black belts in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He took up jiu-jitsu at around 15 or 16, and the reason was judo: the ground game was what he wanted to improve.
  Where in the source: When I was around 15 or 16 years old, I started working on Jiu Jitsu in order to improve my ground game. We have all realized that ground game is very important in Judo and that has been one of the main reasons why I started training Jiu Jitsu
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- His father was on the coaching staff at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
  Where in the source: It was at that time, in 1992, that my father went to the Olympic Games in Barcelona
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- When he began jiu-jitsu, no black belt was to be found in his home town, and his father brought in an instructor from São Paulo, about 100 km off, who came to their gym twice a week.
  Where in the source: When I started training Jiu Jitsu, there were no black belts in my town and so my father had to find a solution for that. And, at that time, he found a guy in São Paulo. São Paulo is about 100km from our city. And this instructor would come every Tuesday and Thursday to work in our gym.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- Erivaldo Junior was himself only a purple belt when they started training together, and stayed one belt ahead of him the whole way up.
  Where in the source: And that’s when we found Erivaldo Junior. When I first started training with him, he was just a purple belt. And as I progressed, he was always one belt above me; so, when I was a blue belt, he was a purple belt and when he got his brown belt, I received my purple, and so on consecutively.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- Erivaldo Junior awarded him the black belt in 2005, and he went on training under him until 2008.
  Where in the source: I got my black belt from him in 2005, and I trained with him up until 2008.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- The training took place on mats at the teacher's home, and he cycled half an hour each way to get there, right up until about 2009.
  Where in the source: I would go there by bicycle. It would take me half an hour to get to this place by bike; and I trained there for a long time, up until something close to 2009. It was then that I had joined Atos.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- Up to 2009 he divided himself between judo and jiu-jitsu; then he settled on jiu-jitsu alone and sought out Atos in order to train with people who were as committed.
  Where in the source: And then, in 2009, I made up my mind and I decided to go with 100% in BJJ. At this time, I started looking for a team that I would be able to train with on a more professional level… To train with like-minded people that want to compete at the highest level possible. And that’s when I decided to join Atos and train with them.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- In his first year as a black belt he took third at the World Championship, and won a tournament he himself calls a world cup against much the same field.
  Where in the source: And in the first year after I got my black belt in 2005, I’ve achieved some very good results and got the third place in the World’s Championship. There was another competition that happened at that time, actually, which was basically with the same fighters that would go to the world championships. That tournament was called something like a „World Cup“ – and I was a champion in this one!
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He reached the World final three times — 2010, 2012 and 2013 — and lost all three.
  Where in the source: I reached the finals three times, and I lost all three of them. They were in 2010, 2012, and 2013. And I took second place in all three instances.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- His first competition came at the age of five, and as a child he took buses to tournaments on two consecutive days over a weekend.
  Where in the source: the first time I competed was when I was 5 years old. So, it was very common for me to take a bus as a child and go to one competition on a Saturday and then take another bus for another competition on Sunday
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- His problem was the reverse of the usual one: where others are too keyed up, he began matches too calm and found his rhythm only once they were under way.
  Where in the source: But, for me it was the opposite; I wasn’t performing well because I would start the match by being too calm… And then, I would only be able to find my right rhythm during the match.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He divides preparation into four — physical, technical, emotional and tactical — and holds that each of the four has to be trained on its own.
  Where in the source: he needs to be prepared physically, technically, emotionally and tactically . This is a set of skills that you need to have. And you need to train each and every one of them, with a lot of attention to details.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He represents Atos and the family's own gym, Calasans Camargo.
  Where in the source: representing the Atos Jiu Jitsu team and the Calasans Camargo Gym
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He holds black belts in judo as well as in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
  Where in the source: Claudio Calasans Camargo is both a Judo and a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- In the 2020 interview he was 36 and said that injuries took longer to clear than before, and that he had to think through what the next step should be.
  Where in the source: Right now, I am 36 years old. At this age, it’s not like when you’re younger: when, if you’re injured, you can just stop for one, two or three weeks and then just come back. When you’re at my age, it’s not as simple as it used to be. I’m thinking about this a lot.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- His gym keeps competition training separate from ordinary training, and the two kinds of session are built differently.
  Where in the source: We have both sides here at my gym. We have „regular training“ for any person that wants to practice Jiu Jitsu; but we also have the „competition-focused“ training sessions as well. And it is interesting that, when we’re training competitors to compete, we have very different training sessions than it is the case in the regular ones.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
Sherdog, "ADCC 2015 Day Two Recap: Calasans Wins Absolute Gold; Galvao Dominates Cyborg", publisert 2015-08-30.(opens in a new tab)
- The 2015 ADCC absolute final, Calasans against Joao Gabriel Rocha in São Paulo, produced no points in regulation or overtime; Calasans won because Rocha had one stalling penalty more than he did.
  Where in the source: That was not the case on Sunday in Sao Paulo with the ADCC 2015 gold medal match between Claudio Calasans and Joao Gabriel Rocha. The two fought hard for the entire regulation and overtime period but failed to score any points. Calasans was awarded the victory by the skin of his teeth thanks to Rocha having one more penalty for stalling than did Calasans.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- The road to the gold ran over Gabriel Lucas and Vinny Magalhaes, both on points, then Yuri Simoes by referee's decision in the semi-final.
  Where in the source: Calasans’ path to the gold saw him edging Gabriel Lucas and Vinny Magalhaes on points, and then squeaking past Yuri Simoes in the semifinals via referee’s decision.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
FloGrappling, "Why Did 2015 World Champion Claudio Calasans Disappear From Competition?", av Hywel Teague, publisert 2016-04-04.(opens in a new tab)
- In 2015 he took the IBJJF Worlds at middleweight for the first time, then added ADCC gold in the absolute division that same year.
  Where in the source: winning his first IBJJF World title at middleweight, and followed it up by winning the ADCC Absolute title.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He sat out the Europeans in the winter of 2016 because he spent two months in Europe on seminars and camps and did not get focused training in.
  Where in the source: I didn’t compete in the Europeans because it was seminar season. I stayed for two months in Europe giving seminars and camps, traveling a lot, so I wasn’t focused on training and it was because of this I decided not to compete.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He was living in Brazil in 2016 and dropped the Pan because the Brazil-USA-Brazil-Abu Dhabi routing sat too close to the World Pro.
  Where in the source: The Pans are very close to the date of the World Pro , and as I live in Brazil, it’a not good for me to have to travel to the U.S., go back to Brazil and then go to Abu Dhabi.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- After the break he planned a comeback taking in the Copa Podio middleweight GP, the IBJJF Worlds and the World Pro.
  Where in the source: Claudio Calasans will compete at the World Pro , IBJJF World Championships and the Copa Podio Middleweight GP
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
BJJ Eastern Europe (bjjee.com), report on Cláudio Calasans at the 2025 Veterans Judo World Championships, published 5 November 2025.(opens in a new tab)
- He is described as a Brazilian grappler.
  Where in the source: Brazilian grappler Claudio Calasans
  Accessed: 2026-10-07
- He came back to judo after sixteen years away from the sport, beating rivals from Georgia, Switzerland, Azerbaijan, France and Brazil before taking gold in the masters division.
  Where in the source: Competing in the Masters division in judo after a 16-year absence from the sport, Calasans defeated opponents from Georgia, Switzerland, Azerbaijan, France, and Brazil on his way to the gold medal.
  Accessed: 2026-10-07
- His childhood models were the Brazilian Olympic judo champions Aurelio Miguel and Rogerio Sampaio.
  Where in the source: He began training judo at age three, inspired by Brazilian Olympic champions Aurélio Miguel and Rogério Sampaio
  Accessed: 2026-10-07
- He says himself that he had always wanted to compete internationally in judo again, and that he is grateful the chance came.
  Where in the source: I always had the curiosity to compete internationally in judo again. Now I had the chance and I’m grateful.
  Accessed: 2026-10-07
- What made him enter was a friend's advice — do it while you are healthy enough, because in a year the chance may not be there.
  Where in the source: Take advantage today to do what you feel like doing and are healthy enough to do, because in a year the same chance may not exist — and you may regret missing it.
  Accessed: 2026-10-07
Jits Magazine (jitsmagazine.com), "Claudio Calasans Becomes First IBJJF, ADCC, And Judo World Champion", av Kian Rogers, publisert 2025-11-05.(opens in a new tab)
- The judo gold made him the first ever to win world championships in IBJJF, ADCC and judo.
  Where in the source: he’s become the first person to ever win an IBJJF , ADCC , and Judo world championship
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He was 42, competed in the 40-44 age group and took gold at under 81 kg.
  Where in the source: Now at the age of 42, Calasans competed at the Judo World Championship 2025 in the 40-44 year old division and took gold at under 81kg.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- His own summary is six fights: two against Georgians and one apiece against competitors from Switzerland, Azerbaijan, France and Brazil.
  Where in the source: World Masters Judo Championship, there were 6 fights against two athletes from Georgia, one from Switzerland, Azerbaijan, France and Brazil.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- He says that in jiu-jitsu he was often called a judoka, and in judo often called a jiu-jiteiro.
  Where in the source: In Jiu Jitsu I was often called a “judoka”, in Judo I was often called a “Jiu Jiteiro”
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
Jiu Jitsu Magazine (jiujitsumag.com), "Claudio Calasans: A Milestone No One Else Has Hit", av Jim Lawson, publisert 2025-11-06.(opens in a new tab)
- In the same year, 2015, he took ADCC gold in the absolute division and the IBJJF world title at black belt.
  Where in the source: In 2015, Calasans took gold at the ADCC Absolute division — arguably the most brutal open-weight tournament in submission grappling. That same year he captured the IBJJF World Championship at black belt level.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- The magazine's November 2025 piece calls him the first to hold world championship titles in all three: ADCC, the IBJJF Worlds and judo.
  Where in the source: As of November 2025, he is the first competitor ever to claim world-championship titles in the three pillars of grappling and judo
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
Digitsu (digitsu.com), "Claudio Juninho Calasans BJJ Record, Stats & Bio", kampdatabase, udatert side (bunntekst (c) Digitsu LLC 2026).(opens in a new tab)
- Digitsu's match database holds 184 recorded matches for him: 122 wins, 59 losses and three draws.
  Where in the source: Total Matchups 184 Wins 122 (66.3%) Losses 59 (32.07%) Draws 3 (1.63%)
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- Against Victor Estima the database has seven meetings, five won and two lost.
  Where in the source: with Victor Estima, going 5 and 2 across 7 recorded meetings
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- Against Leandro Lo and Otavio Sousa he has gone winless across six recorded matches each, and winless in five against Isaque Bahiense.
  Where in the source: He is 0 and 6 against both Leandro Lo and Otavio Sousa on record, and 0 and 5 against Isaque Bahiense
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- His busiest year on record was 2011, at 23 matches logged; that season brought wins at the Pan, at the European Open, at the Abu Dhabi Pro and in ADCC's Brazilian trials.
  Where in the source: His busiest recorded year was 2011 with 23 matches, the same season he won the Pan, the European Open, the Abu Dhabi Pro, and the ADCC Brazilian Trials.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- His recorded submission rate is 30 per cent of wins, below the site average of 40 per cent, with the armbar leading at seven wins.
  Where in the source: His recorded submission win rate sits at 30 percent, below the site average of 40 percent, with the armbar leading the way at 7 wins.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- Two recorded finishes point to the judo background: Manuel Ribamar Filho tapped to a wristlock at the IBJJF European Championship in 2017, and Romulo Barral to a kneebar at the Abu Dhabi World Pro in 2016.
  Where in the source: He submitted Manuel Ribamar Filho by wristlock at the 2017 IBJJF European Championship and tapped Romulo Barral with a kneebar at the 2016 Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- The database gives a date of birth of 11 October 1983.
  Where in the source: Born: October 11, 1983 (age 42)
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
International Judo Federation (ijf.org), arrangementssida for "Paris World Championships Veterans 2025", arrangoerens eget register.(opens in a new tab)
- The judo federation's own register carries the event under the name Paris World Championships Veterans 2025, run in Paris between 3 and 7 November 2025, with 2,316 competitors drawn from 64 nations.
  Where in the source: 6 Continents 64 Countries 2316 Competitors 1909 Men 407 Women Dates From 03. Nov 2025 To 07. Nov 2025
  Accessed: 2026-09-20
- The M3 category at −81 kg was on the programme at the championship.
  Where in the source: M3: -60 kg, -66 kg, -73 kg, -81 kg, -90 kg, -100 kg, +100 kg
  Accessed: 2026-09-20

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